Stringed instrument pick



Aug. 25, 1936. L R, K LL R 2,052,405

STRINGED INSTRUMENT PICK Filed Feb. 8, 1936 INVENTOR Lewis RK2ZZ7" BY2|; 5 W ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6Claims.

This invention relates to picks for stringed instruments and has for anobject to provide a simplified construction of pick which may be used asa hand pick or a pick in a toy or other musical instrument withoutchanging the construction of the parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pick wherein the pickbody is held in place by suitable, automatically acting clutches.

A further object more specifically is to provide a pick having asupportirg rod or shaft with a pick body provided with automaticallyacting clutches for clamping said body with the parts arranged so thatone clutch will function when the pick is moved in one direction and theother clutch will function when the pick is moved in the oppositedirection.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a pick disclosing an embodiment of theinvention, the rod portion of the pick being broken away at itsrespective ends.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through Fig. 1 approximately on the line2--2.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a musical instrument wherein the pickshown in Fig. 1 is utilized, certain parts being broken away for betterillustrating the position of the pick.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the pick shown in Fig. 1, the same beingon a reduced scale with the pick body moved near one end of thesupporting rod.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pick as shown in Fig. 4 butillustrated as being grasped by the hand ready for use.

Referring to the accompanying drawing by numeral, the pick comprises asupporting rod or bar I, a pick body 2 and clutches 3 and 4. The rod Imay be wood, metal, or other material, while the pick body 2 and theclutches 3 and 4 are made from a desired metal wire. It will be observedthat the body 2 is merely a loop of wire which merges at one end intocoils forming the clutch 3, while the other end merges into a reverselyarranged coil forming the clutch 4. The parts may be positioned and usedas shown in Fig. l, or the clutches may be moved toward each other oraway from each other. This action produces an effective lengthening orshortening of the pick body 2. When the parts are in position shown inFigs. 1 and 2 and the body 2 is swung to the right by rod I, clutch 4will function to grip tightly the rod I while clutch 3 will becomesomewhat loosened. When the body 2 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is swung tothe left by rod I, a reverse action takes place, namely, clutch 3 willtightly grip rod I while clutch 4 will become loose. It will also benoted that both clutches may be simultaneously slid along the rod 2 sothat the pick may be positioned at any desired point between the ends ofrod I. When the device is to be used by the hand the pick body andclutches are preferably arranged near one end of rod I so that the partsmay be readily grasped as shown in Fig. 5. When used in a toy or othermusical instrument, the pick may be positioned at any desired place soas to engage the wires of the instrument or be engaged by the wires ofthe instrument. As shown in Fig. 3, the toy or musical instrument isprovided with ends 5 and 6, each having a flange or abutment I againstwhich the casing 8 presses so as to hold the sounding wires 9 taut. Therod I is rotatably mounted in ends 6 and I with the end I0 of the rodextending through the end 6. A crank I I is connected in any suitableway with the end ID of rod I so that rod I may be rotated and therebysnapped past the respective wires 9 to produce the desired sound. It isof course evident that the crank II could be held stationary and theends 6 and 'I and associated parts rotated so that the wires 9 wouldmove past the outer and of body 2, whereby the wires would be picked. Itwill be. evident that the musical instrument could be made as shown inFig. 3 or in any other desired way as far as a pick is con- ,cerned, andtherefore the musical instrument per se forms no part of the presentinvention except in combination.

I claim:

1. A pick for a musical instrument comprising a supporting member, apick body and a pair of oppositely functioning clutches for connectingthe pick body with the supporting member, said clutches functioningalternately as said supporting body is rocked back and forth in oppositedirections.

2. A pick for a musical instrument comprising a rod, a pick body ofwire, and a pair of oppositely functioning clutches for connecting thepick body to the rod, said clutches functioning alternately as the rodis rocked back and forth.

3. A pick for a musical instrument, toys and the like, comprising asupporting rod, a wire pick body formed at each end with a reverselypositioned coil surrounding said rod and actuating as right and leftclutches for connecting the pick body to the rod.

4. A pick comprising a single loop of resilient wire having a clutch ateach end of the wire and a support extending through said clutches.

5. The combination with a musical instrument comprising a coii ofresilient wire surrounding said rod and coiled in opposite directions sothat when said pick body is swung in one direction, one of the clutcheswill grip the rod, and when the pick body is swung in the oppositedirection, 5

the other clutchwill grip said rod.

LEWIS R. KELLER.

